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Flower power

My PopWatch post on the PS3 game, Flower, is here.

Oscar Recap

I went 20/24. Either I'm very good at the predicting the Oscars or there were relatively few surprise winners tonight. I think it's a mixture of both.

Despite the awards generally going as expected, the show was an elegant and smooth affair. Credit must go to show producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon for organizing the evening into a "movie production story" narrative, and for the smart idea of having five past nominees present each acting award.

The show looked stunning (it didn't hurt that I was watching it on my parents' HDTV). I especially liked how all the monitors were integrated into the sets (e.g. during the sound-editing, sound-mixing, and film-editing awards, the TV monitors were arranged to look like floating mirrors).

Hugh Jackman was an agreeable master of ceremonies, but I think you got to stick with comedians for this gig. The show's best moments were comedic ones, such as the banter between presenters Steve Martin and Tina Fey, or the hilarious montage video starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Janusz Kaminski (of all people!).

As for the awards themselves, I'm fine with "Slumdog Millionaire" winning Best Picture, Director, etc. But did it really have the best sound mixing (I think "The Dark Knight" did). Did it really have the best score? Debatable, but oh well.

I'm thrilled "Milk" won two major awards for screenplay and best actor. Special props to Dustin Lance Black for his inspiring acceptance speech. Hopefully a few more people who voted "yes" on Prop. 8 will seek out the film, but probably not.

All in all, a very fine show for a very mediocre year of movies. And now it's onto 2009, which promises to be a vast improvement.

Final Oscar Predictions

Best Picture
Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire
Should Win: Milk

Best Director
Will Win: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Should Win: Gus Van Sant, Milk

Best Actor
Will Win: Sean Penn, Milk
Should Win: Sean Penn, Milk

Best Actress
Will Win: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Should Win: Meryl Streep, Doubt

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Should Win: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Should Win: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire
Should Win: Doubt

Best Original Screenplay
Will Win: Milk
Should Win: Milk

Best Foreign Language Film
Will Win: Waltz with Bashir
Should Win: Waltz with Bashir

Best Documentary
Will Win: Man on Wire
Should Win: Man on Wire

Best Animated Film
Will Win: WALL-E
Should Win: WALL-E

Best Art Direction
Will Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Should Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Cinematography
Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire
Should Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Costume Design
Will Win: The Duchess
Should Win: Revolutionary Road

Best Film Editing
Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire
Should Win: Milk

Best Makeup
Will Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Should Win: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Best Original Score
Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire
Should Win: Milk

Best Original Song
Will Win: "Down to Earth," WALL-E
Should Win: "Down to Earth," WALL-E

Best Sound Mixing
Will Win: The Dark Knight
Should Win: The Dark Knight

Best Sound Editing
Will Win: The Dark Knight
Should Win: WALL-E

Best Visual Effects
Will Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Should Win: Iron Man

Best Animated Short Film
Will Win: La Maison en Petits Cubes
Should Win: La Maison en Petits Cubes

Best Live Action Short Film
Will Win: Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Should Win: Manon on the Asphalt

Best Documentary Short
Will Win: The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306
Should Win: ?

Oscar Shorts

You can read my PopWatch post on this year's Oscar-nominated short films here. And below is one of those animated shorts, Oktapodi, in its entirety:

Flight of the Conchords - "Carol Brown"

Directed by Michel Gondry.

Flight of the Conchords - "Friends" & "Stay Cool"

The Novel 100

During one of my recent sessions of aimlessly wandering the web, I came across the existence of a book called The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time. Daniel S. Burt, a NYU professor of literature, took it upon himself to rank the best novels ever, and while any "best of" list is a futile act of subjectivity, his list seems credible.

However, after browsing the whole list, I realized something very unsettling: I had read only seven of the novels. This will not do.

So now I have embarked upon a lifelong quest to read all 100. In all likelihood this task will never be completed. I know that no matter what I may say, I'll probably never get around to reading War and Peace, for example. But it's a goal, and I like goals. Almost as much as I like lists.

You can see Burt's complete list here. How many have you read?

Kiwi!

A lovely short film made in 2006.

Wait for it...

Totally Lost

Finally I have video proof that my office is the coolest place to work in the world. Behold "Totally Lost," EW's new web series where writers Jeff Jensen and Dan Snierson discuss each week's "Lost" episode and provide teasers for next week's show. Having never seen an episode of "Lost," I have no idea what they're talking about most of the time. However, it's neat to see my office being featured in all its glory, and I'm thoroughly impressed with Jeff and Dan's acting chops.

Here are links to the first two episodes:

Episode 1: Piggy

Episode 2: The Guy from "My So-Called Life"

And so it begins...

No Bale for Christian

My respect for Christian Bale as a person went down the toilet after listening to this enormously entertaining clip.

Hulu's Super Bowl commercial

Directed by Peter Berg.